Bucs Camp MVP 8-3: Everyday Elliott

The PewterReport.com staff will choose a daily Bucs Camp MVP during Tampa Bay’s 2017 training camp based on that player’s performance. Visit PewterReport.com daily to find out which player is named the Bucs Camp MVP.

Bucs Camp MVP 8-3: Everyday Elliott
There were a lot of changes in the Bucs’ secondary last season. You had Vernon Hargreaves going through his growing pains as a rookie, first playing as a slot cornerback, then playing some outside. You had Alterraun Verner starting on the outside then moving to a sub-corner role. Jude Adjei-Barimah was in the mix with the nickel position as well once Hargreaves moved outside.

And all the while we heard little rumblings about a former walk-on and undrafted free agent out of FSU Javien Elliott.

We figured that there was a little bit of wishful thinking on the team’s behalf when we heard they “really liked Elliott,” but here we are almost one week in to training camp, and not only are we reminded of Elliott’s name, but he’s also become the team’s starting nickel cornerback.

Javien Elliott is becoming a pretty good slot corner before our very eyes. Already had a pick earlier. Stuck good here. pic.twitter.com/339QGw8VJT

Elliott didn’t start camp as the first-team nickel cornerback – that was held by Adjei-Barimah. But, as the groups rotated, Elliott began to stand out more and more. He’s matched up well with starting slot receiver, Adam Humphries, and has shown he’s a great blitzing player when called upon – the old Ronde Barber role.

Over the past few days, Elliott has recorded pass deflections and sacks, but never an interception. Today, he got that interception.

After that, his confidence only grew. In the clip above, Elliott stayed with his man, Donteea Dye, and was able to dive and tip the ball just enough for it to wobble out of Dye’s hands.

About the author

Trevor Sikkema is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat reporter and NFL Draft analyst for PewterReport.com. Sikkema, an alumnus of the University of Florida, has covered both college and professional football for much of his career. As a native of the Sunshine State, when he's not buried in social media, Sikkema can be found out and active, attempting to be the best athlete he never was. Sikkema can be reached at: [email protected]

8 Comments

I think what seperates this team from past Bucs teams is that we seem to have more B Grade players. There have been games where our few A grade stars were just having abd games or injured, and it didn’t really seem like we had players that could step up and make a play when needed. To carry the team to a “W”. Every position is a Star player but we aren’t starting scraps anymore. The talent goes deep on this team.